Home Office

Hourglass

Lord Patten: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of (1) the work of the charity Hourglass, and (2) its helpline for older people.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: This government recognises that, although anyone can suffer from domestic abuse, for older victims, abuse may be more hidden and disguised or compounded by other age-related factors such as ill health.When tackling domestic abuse, we also understand the importance of specialist and ‘by and for’ services (specialist services that are designed and delivered by and for the users and communities they aim to serve) are vital in providing the tailored support that victims and survivors of domestic abuse need.We work closely with and fund organisations providing this support, including Hourglass, which supports elder victims of abuse, including domestic abuse.Since 2018, the Home Office has funded Hourglass to enhance their helpline, provide casework support, and train specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisers. As with all our funded programmes, we hold regular monitoring meetings with Hourglass to understand the impact of this funding. In 2021/22, Hourglass supported over 3,000 cases.

Department for Education

Pupil Premium

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask His Majesty's Government howmany children were eligible for Pupil Premium in (1) 2020–21, (2) 2021–22, and (3) the current academic year.

Baroness Barran: The overall pupil premium eligibility figures for each of the last three academic years are 2,161,075 in 2022/23, 2,086,736 in 2021/22, and 2,031,666 in 2020/21. Further information on the number of pupil premium eligible pupils in England, including allocations for financial years 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2020-to-2021, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022, and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023.Information in these links shows the total number of pupil premium eligible pupils broken down by the different strands of eligibility. The total number of pupil premium eligible pupils can specifically be found in the ‘School Type’, ‘Local Authority’ and ‘Parliamentary Constituency’ sheets of the relevant allocations file.

Internet: Education

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment Ofsted has made ofOfcom's progress towards improving the online media literacy of internet users.

Baroness Barran: Ofsted is not responsible for evaluating the work of Ofcom and has made no assessment of Ofcom’s progress on this matter.Ofsted sets clear expectations that schools teach pupils how to understand and recognise risks they may encounter online. This should include a well constructed relationship, sex and health education curriculum that addresses online abuse and harassment, online safeguarding risks, and what constitutes a healthy relationship online. Ofsted also expects schools to act to ensure bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual violence, online or offline, are unacceptable and dealt with quickly, consistently, and effectively should they occur.

Internet: Curriculum

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to increasing the time devoted to online media literacy as part of the national curriculum.

Baroness Barran: The Department continues to support schools to deliver media literacy education. There are many opportunities across the national curriculum for pupils to acquire knowledge of online media literacy. It is taught through the compulsory subjects of computing and citizenship and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), which was introduced in September 2020. Non-online media literacy is also covered in history and English.The computing curriculum teaches children how to use technology safely. This includes understanding the internet, using search technologies effectively, and being discerning when evaluating digital content.Citizenship education equips pupils with the knowledge to explore issues critically, weigh evidence, make reasoned arguments, and take informed action. Pupils are taught the role of responsible journalism in democratic society, enabling them to identify misinformation.The RSHE curriculum includes online relationships, the implications of sharing private or personal data, including images, online, harmful content and contact, cyberbullying, overreliance on social media, and where to get help and support for issues that occur online.

Primary Education: Free School Meals

Baroness Goudie: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to extend the provision of healthy free school meals to all primary school children.

Baroness Goudie: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will restore the meal voucher scheme for eligible school children during future school holidays.

Baroness Barran: The department will continue to keep eligibility conditions for free school meals (FSM) under review to ensure that FSM are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the department believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are in receipt of benefits-related free school meals. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of pupils are now provided with FSM.Over £200 million a year is being invested in the holiday activities and food programme. This programme provides healthy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their heath, wellbeing and learning through the provision of healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners on Remand

Lord Bradley: To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in prison had been held on remand for longer than (1) six months, (2) one year, and (3) two years, on (a) 31 December 2021, and (b) up to the current date.

Lord Bradley: To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently in prison who have been held on remand for longer than (1) six months, (2) one year, and (3) two years, broken down by offence category.

Lord Bellamy: The number of people who had been held in prison on remand for longer than six months, one year and two years on 31 December 2021, also broken down by offence group, is provided in the attached tables.The department’s latest prison population data as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly is available up to 30 September 2022 and can be found here: Offender Management Statistics quarterly: April to June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).HL3408 (xlsx, 15.3KB)HL3409 (xlsx, 17.8KB)

Department for Work and Pensions

Financial Services: Climate Change

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have collected regarding the voting record of UK authorised fund managers and pension funds in relation to climate-related resolutions at AGMs.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: We do not collect this information.

Personal Independence Payment

Baroness Thomas of Winchester: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Stedman-Scott on 9 November (HL2940), what plans they have to direct assessors for Personal Independence Payments to speak to more claimants directly before they make an initial decision.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: Following the consultation with a heath professional and receipt of the subsequent functional assessment report, DWP Case Managers are trained to make outbound calls to customers, where necessary, as part of the decision-making process to clarify any gaps in evidence or further clarify customers’ restrictions.

Employment: Disability

Lord Shinkwin: To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish their response to the consultation Disability workforce reporting, which closed on 8 April; and when they plan to publish the findings of their review of the Disability Confident scheme.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The commitment to consult on disability workforce reporting was set out in the National Disability Strategy. In January 2022, the High Court declared that the strategy was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations. The Department aims to minimise the risk of acting inconsistently with the Court’s declaration, without compromising on the ambitious agenda we are delivering for disabled people. As such, we have paused a limited number of policies referred to in the Strategy or directly connected with it, including the planned findings report and next steps publication for the Disability Workforce Reporting consultation and work directly related to the Disability Confident review. We are committed to disability policy that supports all areas of life, and to taking action to create a society that works for everyone.

Treasury

Public Expenditure: EU Countries

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government how much money the UK has paid the EU since the UK’s departure from the EU; how much they paid in each year; and for what purposes.

Baroness Penn: The UK’s financial relationship with the European Union is set out in the annual European Union Finances Statement (EUFS). The 2021 edition was published in July 2022 and gives a breakdown of invoices received from the EU and payments made in 2021 under the European Union Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020. The document also provides an overview of the April 2022 invoice, the last payment of which was made on 30 September 2022. A copy is available in the Library of the House and electronically on Gov.uk. Following the publication of the EUFS, the UK received the second invoice of 2022 in September. The UK was invoiced €6,396,952,144.11 to be paid over eight months from 30th October 2022. Full details of payments made in 2022 will be included in the next edition of the EUFS which will be published in 2023.

Economic Situation: Brexit

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Brexit on the UK economy.

Baroness Penn: It is for the Office for Budget Responsibility to provide economic and fiscal forecasts. Global external factors, including Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continue to put pressures on the UK economy. It is challenging to definitively disentangle the effect of these global factors from the longer-term impacts of EU exit on the UK economy and households.

Companies and Financial Institutions: Taxation

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have powers to require (1) listed and large unlisted companies to provide information on their UK taxation compliance, and (2) fund and pension fund managers to pass information about a company’s taxation compliance to their clients.

Baroness Penn: There is no HM Government power that requires:(1) listed and large unlisted companies to provide information on their UK taxation compliance (to their shareholders), and(2) fund and pension fund managers to pass information about a company’s taxation compliance to their clients.However, there are two legislative obligations that require disclosure about a large company’s approach to their tax obligations.Senior Accounting Officer regimeLarge companies are required to appoint a senior accounting officer (SAO). The SAO must take reasonable steps to ensure that the company establishes and maintains appropriate accounting arrangements that will enable the company’s relevant liabilities to be calculated accurately in all material respects.Additionally, the SAO must annually provide HMRC with a certificate to confirm that the company has maintained appropriate accounting arrangements throughout the year. Where the SAO is unable to provide that assurance, they must provide an explanation of the respects in which the accounting arrangements of the company fell short of being able to accurately calculate the company’s tax liability.This certification is provided to HMRC but is not available publicly.Publication of Tax Strategies Large companies are required to annually publish a tax strategy which includes the:approach of the group to risk management and governance arrangements in relation to UK taxation,attitude of the group towards tax planning (so far as affecting UK taxation),level of risk in relation to UK taxation that the group is prepared to accept, andtheir approach of the group towards its dealings with HMRC.This information is available to shareholders and the general public. However, it does not require the company to publish the amount of taxes and duties paid as part of their tax strategy, or information that is commercially sensitive.In addition to these two general information powers, HMRC has the power to require specific information as part of a compliance check. However, this information would be to confirm or quantify a company’s tax liability, and not provide information on their general tax compliance.None of the powers described above oblige fund managers to pass details of their approach to tax compliance to their clients.